“He’ll use the back door, just as you usually do. Do you normally talk to people around here or at the store?” asked William.
“When I go to the little store on the corner of Twenty-First Street, it’s usually Giorgio serving there and I say ‘hi’ to him. But if I go to the supermarket on Twentieth, I don’t know anyone there. As for people walking around on the streets, I haven’t gotten to know my neighbors yet. I’ve been meaning to, but…”
“It’s actually a good thing you’ve been too busy to make friends, otherwise we’d have to keep them safe from Teivel, too,” said Angus.
“Why don’t you go now to Giorgio’s? If you haven’t shopped for a while, he’ll have missed you. Just buy whatever you’d usually buy. Then when you get back, Mark can go and do a more comprehensive shopping excursion at the supermarket,” suggested William.
Mallory ate the last bite of her meal, sighed happily, and nodded. Angus looked at her and said, “You’d better buy more shopping bags, too, Mark. Four won’t hold enough food for us for a week, and you don’t want to be going there so often people start recognizing you.”
Mark nodded and went and put on his necktie and suit coat, while Mallory left via the rear door.
* * * *
Once again Mark thanked all the gods in the pantheon that they’d used thumbprints for their lockboxes, not some kind of key or code. The thin, elderly banker recognized him instantly, just as he’d recognized the old man. That was one worry removed. He’d wondered whether the old man had retired or even died over the past few years, and had pictured himself trying to explain to a new staff member the kind of “business” that had prevented him from any kind of contact with the bank over that time period.
The city apartment was just as they’d left it. The bills had all been paid by direct debit as they’d fallen due, and apart from a layer of dust over everything, it was fine. Mark quickly packed a suitcase of underwear, toiletries, personal papers, shoes, and some jeans and tops for them all, then stashed the case in the trunk of the car he’d just hired.
His next stop was Walmart where he outfitted himself in the latest fashion in jeans, footwear, T-shirt, and sweaters. At an electronics store, he added a laptop computer and a cell phone to his purchases, and then at a second similar store, he bought the same again.
They’d said only one of them would transform at a time, but he wanted to be prepared in case two of them were out of the museum. He considered buying a third cell phone, but thought it unnecessary.
He then visited a large food store, carefully getting everything on his shopping list before going to a second large supermarket and buying more food and staple items. The trunk of the hired car was crammed full, and he was very tired of shopping, so Mark decided he’d done enough for now and drove back to the museum. His key opened the back door and reminded him he still needed to arrange for a locksmith to change all the locks. As quickly as he could, he unloaded the things he’d collected into the rear hallway, and then he locked the door and drove away, travelling six blocks before he started looking for a parking lot where he could leave the car.
Hiring the car was deliberate. The three of them had decided it was the easiest way to keep changing vehicles, in case anyone recognized them or the car, and having a vehicle had definitely made his chores today much easier than having to do it all on foot. It meant he’d done all the shopping in a neighborhood where he was unknown, and so was Mallory, which he hoped had given them some protection from Teivel finding them.
Back at the museum, he unpacked all the shopping, enjoying the way the refrigerator and pantry were filled with food. Gratefully, he took off the outdated suit pants—he’d removed the jacket and necktie as soon as he’d left the bank—and changed into new jeans and a T-shirt. He left the suitcase of clothes for them all in the bedroom, and set up one of the laptops to search for a locksmith.
A webpage for a female locksmith caught his eye as he surfed the web. “Mallory would be likely to choose another woman,” he said softly to himself, scrolling through the site and checking all the details.
Just as he was about to phone the woman, Trudy, he realized that Mallory would need to do it herself, and that she would need a reason the directors of the museum would accept as to why she was changing the locks.
Mark bookmarked the page and leaned back in his chair, his hands behind his head. His mind focused on Mallory. Mallory sucking his cock last night, trying to make it as good as possible for him, even though she was on the brink of her own orgasm. Mallory writhing beneath him in joy as they all fucked together this morning. Mallory screaming her release as she came and came and came, gripping his cock so hard the cum burst out of him in an explosion so strong, he’d never come as hard in his life before. Mallory—
That was it! Mallory had screamed loudly in release this morning, and it was possible those oak dragons had heard her. Even if they didn’t, her scream could be used to good effect. What if she’d woken from a nightmare about someone in her room…No, that might lead Teivel to think one of the dragons had shifted. It would have to be a nightmare that the museum was being robbed. Yes, that’d work. She knew the locks hadn’t been changed, and who knew how careful the previous owner may have been with the keys. He was very old after all and may have given or loaned keys to any number of people. So after her nightmare, Mallory had decided the best thing for the safety of the museum was to have all the locks changed. Problem solved!
* * * *
Mallory was concerned that she’d pay extra attention to Angus and William, or even talk to them and likely say something she shouldn’t, in case the dragons in the back storeroom overheard her. She even wondered if there may be other dragons around who were shape-shifters and might be working for Teivel, or he might suborn them at a later date. There was a group of small dragons, carved of all different materials, each just the perfect size to fit in the palm of a hand. Mallory had been fascinated with them since she first saw them, so she decided today was a good day to work on them as she could take them directly into her office. If she spoke out loud there, it didn’t matter. Unless, of course, these statues were shape-shifters.
Mallory sighed. How had her life gotten so complicated so quickly!
But once she started working, Mallory forgot about everything else. These little statues were beautiful, each tiny dragon carved out of a single piece of rock. She cleaned each one carefully then started looking for their paperwork. They had numbers, not names on their bases, and no paperwork was filed by number. Mallory sat turning the jade one round and round in her hand. Suddenly, a light bulb flashed on in her mind. “I bet you were carved by a Chinese artisan. The Chinese are famed for carving statues out of a single piece of rock. And the layers in your wings seem to me to be traditional Chinese artistry, too. Jade! Duh! I should have thought of that sooner.”
She carefully placed the jade statue back on her desk, with the rose quartz one, the ivory one, a dragon carved from soapstone, and the final one carved from lapis lazuli, and went to the filing cabinet looking under China/Chinese. And there the paperwork was, the sheets for each statue jammed together in a crumpled pile.
Settling in front of her computer, Mallory filled out the paperwork for the pieces then laid the dragons out on a piece of deep purple velvet, angled the desk lamp to illuminate them but not cast shadows, and took photographs of them all. Her next step was to upload the pictures, save and print out the dragons’ provenance cards, and back up her computer.
Finally, she took the little dragons back downstairs to the second room and laid them back on their table, arranging them on the purple velvet fabric, which accentuated their colors. “I really need to polish your table, too. It looks dusty now you’re all looking so handsome,” she told them. But as she looked to the windows, she saw it was growing dark and knew she should finish for the day. “I’ll do that first thing tomorrow,” she promised, turning off the lights.
Mallory went from room to room, checking the windows were
all locked and barred, testing the front and back doors were still secure, and then finally she walked into her apartment. The day had flown by, but now she’d stopped working, she was tired. And hungry. Besides, she wanted to spend time with Angus, Mark, and William—if she hadn’t imagined them! No, she hadn’t imagined the sex. Twice. The best sex of her life and the only time she’s ever had more than one man. Each of them was so different, each an individual, but she couldn’t choose between them. They were all caring, considerate, and hotter than hell.
She was falling in love with them, too. She wasn’t at all sure how that could be as she’d only known them in human form for a day, but she’d been working on and with them for much longer than that, building the connection, she guessed.
With a sexy little shiver at the thought of the evening ahead of her, Mallory hurried into her apartment. As soon as she opened the door, she smelled the most delicious scent. A pot roast was on cooking! Mark must have not only shopped, but then prepared a meal for them all as well.
“Gotta love a man who cooks,” she said, walking into the kitchen.
“Why thank you, beautiful one.” Mark bowed with a flourish.
Just then, Angus and William appeared behind her, stark naked.
“Unfair competition. Go and put on some of your clothes that I brought with me. They’re in the suitcase in the bedroom.”
“They’ll be all old and out-of-date!” complained William.
“Yeah, I know, but I tried to get you each something you could wear to go clothes shopping for yourselves. I bought most of my new clothes at a chain store. The prices there are very reasonable even if they aren’t exactly Armani.”
Mallory looked at Mark critically. The jeans and T-shirt he was wearing would blend in anywhere. He looked neither over nor underdressed. “You’ve chosen well. Those clothes are perfectly normal,” she said.
“That’s what I was aiming for. To be inconspicuous, we need to blend in. And Armani would not blend in unless we were at a very exclusive dinner.”
“Oh, yes, dinner. I’m starving.”
“Why didn’t you come upstairs for lunch?”
“I was busy working on a puzzle with some small dragons, and I never noticed the time until it started to get dark.” Mallory collected plates and cutlery and laid them out on the bench. The other men returned, dressed now, and Mark served the pot roast. He’d baked potatoes and cooked squash and green beans to go with it, and Mallory ate everything on her plate with a sigh of pure delight.
“How do you feel about hiring a female locksmith?” Mark asked Mallory
“Yeah, sure. All I want is someone whose prices are reasonable and who isn’t connected with Teivel in any way.”
“Well, I can’t promise she’s honest, but I checked out the links on her website, and there was nothing that raised red flags with me, no connection to any of the businesses we know Teivel has his tentacles in,” said Mark.
“Sounds good then. I’ll talk to her this evening. I need to have a reason for doing this though. I can’t just say I don’t trust Teivel, or that you have keys or something.”
“Actually, I thought of that. Remember how you screamed when you came this morning?”
“Oh, yeah. Likely I shouldn’t have done that. What if someone heard me?”
“We’ll make sure your mouth is full tonight so you can’t scream,” said William with a huge grin.
Mallory could guess what he was going to fill her mouth with, and she was good with that idea.
“The real reason why you screamed is that you had a nightmare the museum was being robbed. It was your subconscious acknowledging that old Mr. Tanner may have given all kinds of people keys to the building, and here you are in sole charge of these valuable artworks. So of course you decided to change the locks. It was only common sense.”
“Oh, nice plan. I like it.”
“I was thinking today, too, while I was stuck under the drop cloths,” said Angus.
“Aha. And what were you thinking about? Sex on drop cloths?” asked William.
“Now that’s got potential. But no, I was thinking we really need to go through the papers in the trunk a lot more carefully and look for possible shape-shifters. We had a quick look through them last night, but we ought to read every word on every page with our thoughts focused on looking for signs of human life.”
“Much as I hate to have to say it, he’s right,” groaned Mark.
“Not only that, but I think you should be looking for papers Mr. Tanner may have hidden. He wanted the museum to stay as it was. He would have been opposed to Teivel’s plan, so I don’t think it’s unreasonable he may have some papers put away somewhere safe that he could have used to keep Teivel from outvoting him, or whatever,” said Mallory.
“Our woman is smart. That’s a brilliant thought,” said William beaming at her.
“But first, let’s get the locksmith organized. I really think that should be our number one priority right now.”
They moved into the living room, all leaning over the laptop and looking at the website, agreeing this woman seemed to be the perfect choice, before Mallory phoned Trudy.
“The Magic Dragon Museum? Corner of Nineteenth Street and Main? I can be there at ten tomorrow. That suit you?” Trudy asked.
“Perfect. See you then.”
“Now that business is out of the way, it must be time for fun,” said Angus, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.
“I’m guessing you bought condoms as well as food?” Mallory asked.
“Hell yes, a giant box. And a big jar of lube. Being inventive was a lot of fun, but good old-fashioned fucking without having to count the number of condoms remaining and divide by three will also be good,” said Mark.
“Not good at math, huh?”
“Enough talking. Let’s take this into the bedroom,” said Angus, picking up Mallory and slinging her over his shoulder. “I’m thinking a daisy chain tonight. That’ll keep her mouth too busy to scream,” he added.
“Sounds good, but I get Mallory’s pussy,” said William.
“You know, you keep saying you’re straight, but I’m willing to bet if one of us sucks your cock, you won’t complain,” said Angus.
Mallory twisted her body to see William. He had said he was straight. But then he seemed to like sharing her with the other men, and Mark had been very verbal about how good it was to feel another man’s cock touching his when they were inside her together. She waited impatiently to hear William’s reply, but he remained silent.
“How does this work?” she asked as Angus dropped her into the center of the bed.
“It works by us all being naked.” Mark laughed, stripping off his clothes and dropping them on the floor.
She grinned and shook her head. “I’m not sure why you bothered to buy clothes. Naked seems to be your outfit of choice.”
“Around you, woman, that’s definitely true,” said William, dropping a kiss on her nose. Mallory noticed he’d gotten undressed, too. These men must hold the world speed record for getting naked.
Then hands were on her shoes, her jeans, and her top, and in the blink of an eye, she was as undressed as them.
The men arranged themselves around her on the bed in a loose square formation, with body parts overlapping. Mark settled his cock over Mallory’s face, while his head was level with Angus’s crotch. Angus’s mouth was lined up with William’s dick and William’s head was planted firmly on her pussy. Mallory laid back and decided to concentrate on the yummy cock right at tongue level. She wasn’t too sure how the men would suck each other, as the cocks were pointing in different directions, not always the logical way to go down on. However, she figured not only did they know what they were doing, but also, they were inventive enough to overcome any logistical difficulties.
Mallory began by taking a long swipe down the shaft of Mark’s cock, savoring the taste of him, the hardness of his shaft, the deep throbbing pulse in his vein, all the way down to his slightly rough,
slightly hairy balls. As with the hair on his head, his body hair was black and thick, though, true to his granite nature, his skin was much more pink than either tan or olive.
Mallory tilted her head right back, opened her throat, and sucked him down as far as he would go before very gradually releasing him. Then she nibbled her way along his shaft and sucked first one of his balls then the other into her mouth. The skin of his balls was a vivid contrast to that of his shaft or his cockhead. The cockhead, protected by his foreskin, was very soft and sensitive. She hardly had to touch it to make him shiver and groan. His balls, though, were winkled and hairy and a much tougher texture, although sucking them made him groan, too.
William was doing wicked things to her pussy. He’d swiped along the length of her slit, much as she’d done with Mark’s shaft, but then he’d delved his tongue deep inside her, licking her cream and teasing along her walls. Now he had his chin pressing on her clit as his hands held her labia apart, and his mouth and teeth worked over her lips, nipping, nibbling, and sucking all along them and back again.
This time it was Mallory who groaned, and then she decided to copy a few maneuvers from William. So she dipped the tip of her tongue into the eye of Mark’s cock, licking up his essence then sliding her tongue all over the head of his cock as she pushed his foreskin right down and let it come up again.
She followed this up by once again sucking him as deep down her throat as she could manage, hollowing her cheeks and exerting pressure, enough to pull on him, not enough to hurt, she hoped. Again, his moans seemed to indicate she’d gotten the tension between the two extremes right.
Mallory became more aware of the other two men. Bodies were touching hers from every angle, and by moving her hands and feet, she realized she could keep in contact with Angus as well. She let her toe slide up and down a leg. She wasn’t completely sure whose it was, but she thought, hoped, it was Angus’s. She liked the idea of being connected to everyone, responding to all three men at once.
William was sucking her clit now, pulling on it quite firmly, then licking inside her pussy again, before returning to tease all around her little button, cranking up her desire that he touch it once more.
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